Total was formed by Matthew Bower after the break up of Pure (6). Originally the project was noise and industrial oriented and received occasional help from members of Ramleh and Ake. Towards the later 1980's the sound became more guitar oriented, and a group was formed which was name Skullflower, which ended Total.
In the early 1990's, Matthew brought back the Total name to release his solo music aside from Skullflower. Although almost the releases by the second incarnation of Total are Matthew alone, towards the end he was joined by John Godbert, making Total a duo.
As the 1990's drew to a close, so did Total, the final releases being older recordings that had not yet been issued. The reason for this seems to be that Matthew decided to use the new Sunroof! moniker for his solo works from then on.